Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Your Mama Hears...

...That a sadly disheveled and endangered of being destroyed Richard Neutra-designed pile in Beverly Hills, CA known as the Kronish House was saved from the wrecking ball by a last minute purchase by an as yet unnamed buyer who coughed up $12,800,000 for the property.

Actually we didn't hear about the sale of the much neglected mid-century modern, we read about it in the Wall Street Journal and on Curbed, who faithfully followed and thoroughly reported on the Kronish House's real estate saga that grabbed the attentions of architectural historians and enthusiasts over the last few weeks and months, particularly those folks who care about such things in Los Angeles.

The Wall Street Journal did not name or even hint at the identity of the new owner who purchased the property through a trust but did quote listing agent Susan Smith from Hilton & Hyland who stated (via email), "The new owner is going to preserve the house and this will take about two years...It will be a private home." While that surely is a relief to preservationist it's still not clear if the owner will restore the house to original architectural purity or if it will be sharp-tailored and custom-fitted to a modern-day lifestyle.

Yesterday, the ever-intrepid folks at Curbed guessed with odds of 3:1 that the Neutra-loving new owner might be Michael LeFetra, a well-known amongst Los Angeles' real estate freaks and aficionados as a prolific buyer, restorer and flipper of architecturally significant homes in need of TLC. Actress and historic house lover and restorer Diane Keaton came in with odds of 7:1, next door neighbor Madonna was given odds of 18:1, and architecture and design buff Brad Pitt came in near the bottom of the list with odds of 20:1.

Natch, soon as we digested the speculation on Curbed we snatched up our bedazzled and bedraggled princess phone to touch base with a few of our informants who purvey property in the Platinum Triangle.

We quickly heard back from a long time informant–let's call her Anita Tellsomebody–who has on several previous occasions has provided spot on Platinum Triangle real estate rumor confirmations. According to Miss Tellsomebody, the buyer of the Kronish House is...drum roll please...Stavros Niarchos.

Mister Niarchos is an heir to a great Greek shipping fortune but he is perhaps best known by tabloid blog and gossip glossy readers of one of the two young Greek shipping heirs Paris Hilton got busy with back in the mid-Naughts when Miss Hilton could not tie her shoe, braid her hair or flash her vajayjay without the paparazzi taking 4,000 photos.

Listing information for the property shows low-slung single story residence was built in 1954, sits on a flat 1.99 acre flag lot, and currently measures 6,891 square feet with 6 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. Full walls of floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors throughout the residence allow the interior spaces to spill out to and merge seamlessly with the tile terraces and courtyards that surround the house.

The buyer's identity, shielded behind a trust, has not yet been confirmed by anyone willing to go on the record. That means, sugar beets, we're just passing along a little high-toned real estate rumor and gossip today, okay?

Well, whatever the new owner does, I hope he/she/they take as a cautionary tale of what to AVOID the pathetic fate of the Singleton Residence. That west LA Neutra masterpiece was architecturally zombified by the Sassoons in what will surely go down as among the most wrong-headed, insensitive, and economically catastrophic architectural pseudo-restorations ever perpetrated. Memo to flippers everywhere: Avoid design decisions utterly hostile to the original architect's style, since the whole point is to sell the home at a premium to a buyer who values that style. For example, using luxurious materials known to have been expressly rejected by the architect is a bad move. One's understandable thought of blowing out the walls of three bedrooms so they can be combined into a gigantic new kitchen (where the original house included a deliberately compact version) may warrant reconsideration. And enclosing the car port for inclusion into added living space generally does not work out any better than tacking on a big new master suite pavilion that looks like a San Fernando Valley motel. One might have thought it was not necessary to say such things, but then there is the "updated and restored" Singleton Residence. Perhaps someone will put it out of its misery, and just tear it down.

Ok so I'm not trying to be an asshole, I am the first comment here. I am just trying to understand WHY people consider this house a piece of art. No offense to admirers of the house or the architect or anyone but I'm pretty sure anyone can design a house that is a single floor and completely rectangular in every way. Can someone please explain to me what make this house art?

I don't see Daphne Guinness mentioned, I guess the post was edited. But you're correct, Daphne was married to his Spyros Niarchos the younger brother of Philip Niarchos who is Stavros' Father. Also, Stavros' Mother is a Guinness, a cousin of Daphne's.

I just don't see Stavros purchasing this place. He lived in LA when he was at USC so just find any other properties owned by the same trust & that should answer a few questions.

As the NIARCHOS FOUNDATION...owns the largest private collection of Modern art in the World...this is the PERFECT SETTING for those jewels of color wrought by the Picasso, Monet, Basquiat and Warhol. In fact the skull images by Warhol are of Stavros Niarchos III father as a requested commissioned portrait by the sitter himself.

A very personal collection in a Modern Masterpiece by Neutra...super dashing a la James Bond when all done in the CORRECT restored with 21stC amenities.

BRAVO STAVRO! Thank you for saving a part of our historical legacy from the Golden Age of Beauty when Los Angeles attracted the Worlds most famous Architects as well. Too bad Beverly Hills is on the dole from horrid developers from other countries withput respect for our history...imagine an American going to Paris and demolishing the Hotel Crillon for one of those tasteless receptacles for people sprouting up on Crescent Drive and below Wilshire.

Not everyone would find a work like Fallingwater appealing nor livable either, yet there is no denying that this is a sufficiently significant architecturally important piece, and as such, merits preservation.

It need not be a textbook restoration, a snapshot in time, as it were, in order to preserve the spirit of the structure ––– after all, no one can truly remain comfortable living in a museum piece all the time. But it does represent a significant departure in the way the modern family of the 50s saw itself, and as such can be a 21st century reincarnation.

I also don't understand how a house like this could fall into such disrepair! It looks like a lot of the details were stripped out of it. That statue and those shutters have got to go. (i.e. I hate it when someone has a Mid-Century house and they put in a Home Depot front door.) Aargh!!! I'm glad someone is going to renovate it.

I am going to ask my sister over at the LA Conservancy who the buyer is. She posted something on Facebook recently, thanking those who helped save a home recently. I will recheck to see if she was talking of this home. I love it. Can't wait to see it restored!